Letice Earwig

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Revision as of 07:31, 23 September 2015 by Anactualwitch (talk | contribs) (Mentioned that "To Ride a Golden Broomstick" is inspired by the Silver Ravenwolf book "To Ride a Silver Broomstick", and added a Trivia section, including links to Ravenwolf.)
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Mrs. Earwig
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Name Letice Earwig
Race Human
Age
Occupation Witch
Physical appearance Wears lots of jewelry, very tall pointed hat and silver glasses on a chain.
Residence
Death
Parents
Relatives
Children
Marital Status married, Dr Earwig
Appearances
Books A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, The Sea and Little Fishes
Cameos


Mrs. Earwig (pronounced "Ah-widge") is an arrogant, snobbish witch. She is married to a retired wizard Dr Earwig, and is of the kind of witches who read books, and has even written a book on "magik". Her last, and only, trainee was Annagramma Hawkin.

Although she does use practical folk wisdom as a witch, she also tends to use crystals, jewelry and other items considered useless by witches of Esmeralda Weatherwax's tradition. (Not that Granny doesn't recognise the uses of Boffo, but you don't have to go believing it yourself.) Needless to say these two are intense rivals, and treat each other with hostile politeness.

She does however help promote the craft among younger girls by selling her various books including "First Flights in Witchcraft", "My Fairy Friends", and "To Ride a Golden Broomstick". These are widely denounced by other witches as being ridiculous nonsense, that only appeals to those who don't know what witchcraft is really about. "To Ride a Golden Broomstick" is reminiscent of the real-world book "To Ride a Silver Broomstick" by Silver Ravenwolf.

Her husband Dr. Earwig is mentioned in Unseen Academicals as one of the few wizards who have retired (although he technically just left to get married, which, according to Mustrum Ridcully, is the same as dying).

Trivia

Letice Earwig's character is most likely inspired by a number of real-world Wiccans, witches and neopagans. In particular, parallels are drawn between Earwig and Wiccan author Silver Ravenwolf. Ravenwolf is generally strongly disapproved of as "fluffy" by the vast majority of Wiccans and witches in the real world, much like Mrs Earwig is strongly disapproved of and considered woolly by Discworld witches and wizards. Both Earwig and Ravenwolf are seen to be pandering to teenagers who want to play at being dark and mysterious by becoming witches, but without any real content behind them.

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